Lightning-caused fires are devouring huge swaths of northern Wyoming, but Converse County got a lucky break when a Wednesday-evening rainstorm helped stifle its large fire.
A 1,500-acre fire charred the Barber Ranch between Douglas and Glenrock on Wednesday afternoon, another of numerous wildfires sparked by lightning and frenzied by high winds in the region this week.
There were about five other smaller fires in Converse County at the time as well, Russ Dalgarn, Converse County emergency coordinator, told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
It prompted the closure of Interstate 25 from Douglas to Casper, several miles west. The closure far outreached the danger zone, but it was necessary to shut off the road in areas where people still had detour options, said Dalgarn.
The Interstate was open again as of Thursday.
Personnel evacuated oil and gas industrial structures on Esterbrook Road and multiple homes in the area Wednesday. Immediately afterward, a rainstorm rolled through the area and cooled the fire.
The Glenrock Fire Department, Converse County Rural Fire, Douglas Fire, Bureau of Land Management Fire, the U.S. Forest Service and Wyoming State Forestry all fought the blaze, with the help of heavy equipment and water shuttles from Converse County Road and Bridge.
The smoke was heavy, hampering visibility, Dalgarn said.
Oddly, it helped that the Barber Ranch also caught fire just more than a decade ago.
“The fire lines from back then were still on the ground and we just improved our fire lines, luckily,” Dalgarn said. “That contained a lot of it last night.”
No structures burned, and there have been no reports of deaths, injuries or animal losses.
Fire personnel “babysat” the fire all night and are scheduled to monitor it through Thursday night as well, “just because we’re supposed to have some thunderstorms again this afternoon,” and potentially erratic winds, said Dalgarn.
An aerial view of what's left after a wildfire burned through the Natural Bridge area of Converse County, Wyoming. (Courtesy Justin Harvey via Facebook) 
An aerial view of what's left after a wildfire burned through the Natural Bridge area of Converse County, Wyoming. (Courtesy Justin Harvey via Facebook) 
An aerial view of what's left after a wildfire burned through the Natural Bridge area of Converse County, Wyoming. (Courtesy Justin Harvey via Facebook)
What A Plume
Casper resident Jaime Cronin was headed home from Greeley, Colorado, on Wednesday evening when she spotted the smoke plume at the base of the mountains and knew she’d encountered a large fire.
She snapped a few photos in the haze.
Cronin managed to squeak through the interstate just before authorities shut it down. When she got to Casper, she saw westbound travelers being rerouted as they tried to leave Casper.
“We made it through just in time,” said Cronin.
Not So Lucky
Northeastern Wyoming has not been as fortunate as Converse County.
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said the region can expect more winds Thursday and continuing dry weather.
A lightning blaze of 163,466 acres, titled the House Draw Fire, shut down Interstate 90 until late Thursday and called forth ranchers and private residents with water trucks or the means to help, in Johnson County.
Two large fires — the Constitution Fire and the Flat Rock Fire — are now well above their original size estimates of 3,000 acres and 500 acres respectively, in Campbell County. The Flat Rock measured at 30,000 acres Thursday evening and the Constitution at 15,000, Campbell County Fire reported.
And the 10,000-acre Remington Fire in Sheridan County was also still blazing as of Thursday, with the fire department reporting many civilians are becoming weary with this, the third recent blaze of more than 1,000 acres.
Update: This story has been updated to reflect a post publication comment in which Dalgarn estimated the fire at just under 1,500 acres.
Contact Clair McFarland at clair@cowboystatedaily.com
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
